Hey all,

Anyone familiar with the state of Raptor Lake performance + efficiency cores in Linux? I’m specifically curious about how the kernel balances things when running multiple containers (without pinned CPUs)

Thanks!

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)
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    104 days ago

    A Docker container is a security framework. The process running “inside” the container is just a Linux process like any other.

    So, as I understand it, the performance will be identical to a process that is running “outside” a container, subject to the overhead associated with any security restrictions.

    • @[email protected]
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      34 days ago

      If you want to protect the system from untrusted software with containers be careful. Containers and images are mostly an abstraction tool to run and control the applications. Not saying it’s not possible, it’s just easy to make it insecure.

    • fmstratOP
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      14 days ago

      Yes, this is the case, I’m more wondering about kernel support for CPU assignment as it relates to those processes.

      • Onno (VK6FLAB)
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        14 days ago

        I think that what you’re looking for is “CPU affinity”, but that is not something I know anything about.

        In the 40+ years I’ve been playing with computers, I’ve always let the OS worry about where and when to run a process and only rarely do I renice a process that needs to run, but not at the expense of everything else.

        • fmstratOP
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          14 days ago

          Agreed, just want to make sure the kernel can handle resourcing for two different types of cores. I know there was a time (recent) where it couldn’t. Others have said 6.x is the key.

  • @just_another_person
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    24 days ago

    Looks like if you’re on kernel 6.0+ you’re handled according to how Intel intended to deal with it. What’s your specific concern?

    • fmstratOP
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      14 days ago

      OK, looks like Debian stable is 6.1 https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/linux

      My main concern is will it balance cores appropriately. IE if a Postgres DB is humming along, assign an efficient core, but if it ramps up, use the higher powered ones.

      • 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍
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        14 days ago

        A quick look at docker docs says it’s the only way. Same with any other way of running a program/service, you have to manually set an affinity of an executable

        • fmstratOP
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          14 days ago

          No you don’t? There’s nothing with Docker that forces you to pin.